Due to the EU’s Global Data Protection Regulation, our website is currently unavailable to visitors from most European countries. We apologize for this inconvenience and encourage you to visit www.motortrend.com for the latest on new cars, car reviews and news, concept cars and auto show coverage, awards and much more.MOTORTREND.COM

Installing the Titan Trail Trekker on a 2007 JK Wrangler

Overlanding. It’s all about getting from Point A to Point B in the most scenic, sparsely populated way possible. Unfortunately part of trekking far and away from civilization means you’re also venturing far and away from fuel stations. Normally it may not be a very big deal, but if your overlanding rig of choice just happens to be a Wrangler that gets miserable fuel economy, you’re likely to spend more of your overlanding vacation stressing about your fuel needle than enjoying the scenery out the windshield.

Sure, you can strap a couple 5-gallon fuel jugs here and there, but those are bulky, clunky, can leak, and take up precious cargo space. Wouldn’t it be better to have your auxiliary fuel housed in a neat, tidy container, say, like right behind your spare tire? We think so, which was why we were excited when Titan Fuel Tanks introduced its 12-gallon auxiliary Trail Trekker liquid transfer tank for ’87-present Jeep Wranglers (although we bet it’ll work for other applications as well). Titan says the Trail Trekker fits every factory and aftermarket Jeep tire carrier on which it has test fit it thus far, and our ’07 Wrangler’s Warn rear tire carrier was no exception. Follow along as we outfit our 12-mpg trail machine for stress-free extended off-road exploration.

The Titan Trail Trekker 12-gallon auxiliary fluid system comes with everything you need to mount the unit on your Wrangler with up to a 37-inch spare tire. The mounting bracket allows for a huge range of adjustability and has a nice plated finish for corrosion resistance. Mounting hardware, instructions, a ground strap (the tank must be properly grounded to avoid static buildup and sparks), and a super-handy 2-gpm shaker siphon.

The Trail Trekker is made of the same military-grade cross-linked polymer as Titan’s XXL fuel tanks, so you know it’s a quality product. We won’t nickel and dime you through the whole install since each application is a bit different, but essentially you remove the spare, line up the appropriate bracket, adjust for your spare tire size (so there’s a slight bit of compression to limit rattle), and cinch things down. When full, the unit weighs about 100 pounds, so be sure your carrier bracket is up to the weight of the tank, plus your spare tire. Our Warn system has no problems at all coping.

Once installed, rear visibility isn’t hampered much compared to what you loose with a larger-diameter spare tire, so no need to use a small child as a backup warning system. We found the Trail Trekker takes up only a slight mount of real estate, allowing retention of our Hi-Lift mount and other added-on doo dads.

For our ’07 Wrangler, we’ve found the shaker siphon fits neatly in the jack cargo cubby. We’re enjoying the additional 12 gallons of capacity to extend our off-road voyages and no longer have to tote fuel jugs to our desert camp to fuel up motorcycles.